754 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 22, 1673. 
unconsciously, produced by the operators themselves. A 
third and more complicated set of phenomena were those 
in which so-called “levitation” came into play. Pieces 
of furniture were said to be raised from the ground, 
musical instruments played, and various other effects 
produced by the spirits. It was a suspicious circum¬ 
stance that the musical instruments chosen were always 
those very easily played, such as accordions, but it would 
be interesting if the spirits would blow a flute or a 
whistle, as it would prove they had lungs as well as 
hands. In some cases it was stated that a profusion of 
flowers were showered suddenly on the tables, none having 
previously been in the house. But, on inquiry, it never 
seemed as if the observers had taken the trouble to 
notice what kinds of flowers were produced. If such a 
manifestation had occurred in his presence, it would have 
been the lecturer’s first impulse to take the flowers to a 
competent botanist for him to decide whether they were 
normal specimens or “monstrosities.” If normal, one of 
three things would be proved—that the botanical produc¬ 
tions of the spirit-world were identical with those of our 
earth ; that the spirits stole the flowers from some neigh¬ 
bouring garden; or that they were not produced by spirits’ 
aid at all. If, on the other hand, the flowers proved to be 
monstrosities, there would be the strongest reason for 
believing them to have been produced by preternatural 
aid. 
It was a curious fact that the most successful mani¬ 
festations took place in the dark : suspicious as this con¬ 
dition seemed to outsiders, the spiritualists explained it 
by saying that light destroyed the visibility of the spirits, 
but that in the non-actinic light of a photographer’s dark 
room, the spirits became visible. If so, they ought to be 
equally visible by moonlight, and a successful midnight 
seance in an open field would go farther to convince scep¬ 
tics of the truth of spiritualism than a hundred meetings 
in the artfully prepared reception rooms of professional 
mediums of doubtful antecedents and reputation. Mr. 
Allen remarked that with proper arrangements all the 
astonishing manifestations of the professional mediums 
could be imitated by mechanical or scientific aid. The 
lecturer asked a number of questions of a glass bell sus¬ 
pended from the ceiling by a silken cord, the bell cor¬ 
rectly replying to all by the number of strokes given 
by its clapper. Similar “ spiritualistic” effects were 
obtained from a suspended drum and from a chair— 
Mr. Allen subsequently explaining the methods employed 
in producing the manifestations. The lecturer said that 
scientific men were often accused of ignoring the spiri¬ 
tualists without due cause, but this was scarcely the case. 
The phenomena had been investigated by Faraday, Tyn¬ 
dall, Carpenter, and others who had succeeded in ex¬ 
plaining them. The organised attempt at investigation 
made by Mr. Crookes had resulted in a manner eminently 
unsatisfactory to the spiritualists, for Mr. Crookes, and 
those associated with him, had come to the conclusion 
that there was no evidence that the effects were due to 
the agency of spirits, but there seemed to be a power pos¬ 
sessed by Mr. Home, and a few other persons, of over¬ 
coming the force of gravity by the power of their will; 
and although the experiments were in some instances very 
badly devised, the general impression was that the subject 
deserves further consideration. Any investigation of the 
sort is attended with great difficulties, as the power 
alleged by Mr. Home to be possessed by him is only met 
with in rare cases. Mr. Crooke’s experiments have been 
tried again in America by some of the most eminent me¬ 
diums, but have never succeeded. 
At the conclusion a vote of thanks, proposed by E. 
Birks, Esq., and seconded by Mr. Booth (Chesterfield), 
was unanimously tendered to Mr. Allen, much pleasure 
being expressed at the way in which he had clearly ex¬ 
plained many of those knotty points which are rather 
puzzling to ordinary observers. This brought the meeting 
to a close. 
UNITED SOCIETY OF CHEMISTS AND 
DRUGGISTS OF IRELAND. 
A deputation from the United Society of Chemists and 
Druggists of Ireland waited, by appointment, upon the 
Governor and Court of the Apothecaries’ Hall on Friday, 
the 14th of March. The following gentlemen constituted 
the deputation :—Mr. Hodgson, President of the Society; 
Mr. Hayes, Hon. Sec.; Mr. Goodwin, Treasurer; Mr. Boyd; 
Mr. J. T. Holmes, and Mr. Wells. There was a full, 
attendance of the members of the Court. Mr. Hodgson 
introduced the deputation, and said its object was to ascer¬ 
tain the views of the Court of Apothecaries on the subject 
of forming a Pharmaceutical Society in Ireland similar to 
the society in England. The clauses of a draft Bill, which 
had some tune ago been prepared by the .Apothecaries’ 
Company, were then read seriatim by the Governor, and 
discussed. (The Bill was printed in the present series of 
the Pharm. Journ., vol. i. p. 405.) 
After each clause had been fully discussed, and several 
amendments suggested by the deputation and approved by 
the Court, it was arranged that the Chemists’ Association 
should frame a Bill and submit it to the Apothecaries’ 
Company. If approved of, the Attorney-General would be 
requested to introduce a Bill on the subject without delay. 
The Governor wished the deputation to go away with 
the understanding that the Court was in every way dis¬ 
posed to assist in the matter, and no doubt a Bill similar 
to the draft Bill discussed will be adopted. 
f rawtop jof jgnmfifit Societies. 
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY. 
A pharmaceutical meeting of the Philadelphia College 
of Pharmacy was held on Tuesday, February 18 ; Mr. 
Samuel S. Bunting in the chair. 
Mr. Shinn said that, at the meeting held in December- 
last,* reference was made to a preparation, somewhat in 
demand in Philadelphia, containing fifty per cent, of cod- 
liver oil and a certain amount of lacto-phosphate of lime. 
Many experiments, before and since that time, have been 
made by him to devise an eligible method of combining 
these remedies in a palatable form, resulting in the follow* 
ing formula, made to contain twelve grains lacto-phos¬ 
phate of lime to the ounce :— 
Take of Cod-liver Oil .... Oj, 
Oil of Bitter Almonds . 
„ Peppermint . . . 
„ Wintergreen, each gtt. x, 
Powd. Gum Arabic . . |iv, 
„ _ Sugar .... gvi, 
Solution of Lacto-phosph. 
Lime (3i to ffi) . . f^viss, 
Lime. Water .... f fviss. 
Mix the gum and sugar in a capacious mortar, and 
make a smooth mucilage with the lime water and three 
ounces of the solution of lacto-phosphate of lime. Add 
the volatile oils to the cod-liver oil, and gradually triturate 
them with the mucilage until a perfect emulsion is formed. 
Finally, add the rest of the solution of lacto-phosphate of 
lime, and mix thoroughly. 
The solution of lacto-phosphate of lime is made as pro¬ 
posed by Mr. Neergaard in the American Journal oj 
Pharmacy , June, 1871, by saturating a solution of lactic 
acid with freshly precipitated phosphate of lime. 
The magma obtained from 16 ounces of phosphate of 
lime dissolved in muriatic acid, precipitated by ammonia, 
quickly washed and pressed, will be sufficient to saturate 
a pound of the commercial acid mixed with 4 pints of 
water. After filtering the solution it is assayed by eva¬ 
porating a fluid ounce to dryness and weighing the result- 
* See before, page 594. 
